I've revamped terrain generation to run with openCL and thus real-time infinite terrain is a much more realistic possibility (not that you can't do in with threads on the CPU, but this is tons faster than that!)

Matheus23, I'm working on that, I hope to launch a kickstarter very soon! Haha, ya, it definitely is fast, but not sped up. Pretty neat to see it in action - openCL is beastly. I did my first generation tests just working with nanosecond timers (and did a few chunks CPU, then a few GPU, ramping up until I did a few hundred at once on each), and the timestamp difference was just enormous. CPU could do a single chunk fairly fast on its own, but GPU seems to be more of a bottleneck at bandwidth than actually terrain generation (which is why 65k blocks in a chunk happens in ~1ms regardless of octaves which in the CPU just kills generation time). I'm working on having openCL push block data right to GL so that bandwidth bottleneck won't be an issue (though I'm pretty new to openCL) - hopefully that'll mean even faster generation time though, because at the moment it's generating the chunks visually that take the most time (and that's just silly). OpenCL should be able to just keep the memory on the GPU and openGL can generate the VBO on its side with no hesitation (I'd just have pass the VBO pointer) - at least that's how I understand it.

Mads - yes indeed, I am going to have a big trailer to show off the full terrain/textures/everything with all the terrain features (floating islands, mountains with overhangs etc.) included with that. Thanks for your input - and I'm glad you you like the popping, flying around like that is a little scary as it tends to look like the ground is coming up mighty fast!

That's my plan (at least for naturally generated stuff), to use a smoothing algorithm like marching cubes or similar. This is also the reason I have come back to cubes - as making a transition to smooth terrain from hexes isn't so natural. Then, when the user modifies the terrain, it will become more blocky and harsh (and thus also easier to place buildings, mine, etc.)

I still have the ability to switch between the hexes and cubes with the switch of a bit (someone asked me a few days ago and I tested it - everything works in both situations). I still do really like the look of the hexes, but I do worry about optimizations when it comes to rendering and smoothing. I'll keep the code in there for as long as it works though, in case someone wants to mod them in (or there turns out to be a really good use for them!), we'll see!

I'm really sorry, but I'm not. I agree this makes it much more original, and it looks quite cool, but minecraft would have never become popular if it had hexes

you can't build "planes" from hexes, "walls" of hexes always got edges. This doesn't even only look bad, but tesselating isn't possible too, and some pc's propably need optimization if they need to render so much blocks...

Walls of hexes only have "currogated" edges if you insist on building square shapes with them. Notice what happens when you build a diagonal wall with cubes. You just have to think like a bee. The setting is supposed to look alien after all.

I do agree that optimization for the low end might make it impractical in the long run, and sadly hexes might have to get the boot then, but aesthetically it differentiates it from all those other cube worlds.

Sproingie - awesome! I was wondering who backed it for 60$, thanks so much! The T-shirt designs should be done in the next couple days or so, you won't be disappointed! (and if you are, send me a message , and I'll do my best to make them even better!). And as far as the trailer - nope, all just in-game stuff that I shot fairly continuously, plus most of the latest stuff was wrapped into my talking commentary (which I've done more recently), so the game mostly looks and works better than in the trailer (that, and I've been tweaking some stuff due to suggestions I got after posting today - mostly to fix the laser weapons). I've got tons to add, and I'll be updating the kickstarter and tumblr blog as I go!

Sammyster - thank you! Oh (and Sproingie too) the hexes definitely don't optimize as well, but hopefully I can find a good way to fit them in (as you said, they definitely look very alien!) - they are definitely still in the game engine for now - and I'll do my best to get them in there in one form or another!

Matheus23 - yep, this is definitely one of the reasons I am focusing on the cubes right now - they optimize easier - and if I am pushing heavier graphics in other places (weapons, robot models, atmospherics) then I need the optimizations somewhere else

Whoops! The link to the development blog is here: http://tumblr.dysis.net/ Hopefully you can reach it from the main Dysis.net webpage (under dev blog up at the top?), and I've been keeping track of the game since the first day I began working on it (though not every day since, but a lot of the big steps in between!).

This looks really cool! I am really excited to play this. By the "free updates for life", does it mean that if you pledge $10 once the final version comes out you don't get any more updates for free (as in, updates from then out will cost money)? That kinda confused me. Besides that, I'm going to pledge some money eventually, since I'll really want to play this in Beta (or even Prototype too).

Hey Sammidysam, so "free updates forever" is meant to be until release (all content until then is directly leading to the full version) - so down the road I might release a new version or large expansion pack that I want charge for (something that isn't part of the initial game and takes months of work), but updates, bug fixes (and to be completely honest, probably even all the content) will be totally free (up to and after the release). I just don't want to be five years down the road making something like 'Dysis 2' and someone asking for it for free because they bought the first one and "get all updates forever for free". Apologies for that being confusing, I definitely don't mean it to be, and don't want to come off as a jerk! - I will certainly release free updates through and after the release, and any bug fixes will always be free (duh, haha . Also, I have NO INTEREST in releasing small DLC paid packages - so any post-release DLC that is small will be free if you own the game (so new units, or terrain formations, all that stuff).

java-gaming.org is not responsible for the content posted by its members, including references to external websites,
and other references that may or may not have a relation with our primarily
gaming and game production oriented community.
inquiries and complaints can be sent via email to the info‑account of the
company managing the website of java‑gaming.org